Calipari: “We took a big step back”

John Calipari isn’t pleased with the way his team followed up Tuesday night’s impressive win over Duke. When some coaches may like a tight game in this situation, for teaching purposes, Cal wants his team to keep moving forward with each new game.

Tonight, it did not.

“I want us to keep climbing,” said Cal, when asked about a down performance after the big win. “We took a big step back. Guys didn’t listen, you know, we’re doing certain things and they just kind of broke it off and did their own thing.”

The 9-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio is one of the many complaints he has from the game. Labissiere, Lee and Briscoe shooting a combined 2-for-11 (or 2-for-12 by Cal’s count) from the foul line didn’t help his mood, either.

“In a league game we lose. Not winning a league game the way we played.”